The Flower of Hope
by TheFlowerOfHope
Summary: Despite Madara Uchiha's premature death, the Fourth Shinobi World War has already begun. From the ashes a mysterious woman with extraordinary powers appears to finish what Madara began.
1. Chapter 1: The Flower of Hope

**Note: This is mostly a text version of chapters 508-512. So of course I don't own any of this. As you might imagine this contains massive manga spoilers that are not yet out in anime form as of writing this. The Naruto portions were added by me as I feel this is how it SHOULD have happened.**

Chapter 1: The Flower of Hope

It was nicknamed the "Land of Rain" for a reason, it poured every day for as long as anyone could remember. Perhaps the land was cursed, their geographical location always caused them to be in the middle of other nations wars. Whatever the reason, the water would run red with blood as it often does. Two cloaked figures faced off, a battle that was destined to happen. She was the Angel of the village, the right hand person of the former leader. And he was the man who declared war on the world, his goal of world domination was in sight. She knew this day would come. She had carefully planned how to defeat him, this was the moment she was waiting for. There was no fear in her eyes, if she failed all would be lost.

Instead of heading right into battle, he folded his arms and began to speak. "Let me ask you one thing, why did you betray me?" She gave no response. "Is Naruto Uzumaki really worth all that?"

She raised her arm and pointed at him. "He is the Light. That's why we all have the flower of hope." With that she began to break her body down into sheets of paper.

He simply giggled at her statement, not taking her seriously at all. "You bare your fangs at me yet you still wear that uniform. I can only assume you still have some lingering affection for Akatsuki."

At this point her body was completely made out of paper. "Yahiko created Akatsuki, the red cloud is a symbol of the blood that fell over Amegakure during the wars. You may have taken over Akatsuki, but this uniform is ours, not yours. The Amegakure ninja Nagato was the one who awakened the Rinnegan. It is not yours, either. His eyes are this Country's...this Village's treasure." She tossed a number of paper shurikens at him.

He stood there as the projectiles passed through his body. "You are mistaken about two things, but since you are about to die I will enlighten you. I am the one who induced Yahiko to form Akatsuki and I am the one who gave Nagato the Rinnegan. So I guess you could say I am here to take it back." Her face was a mix of shock and confusion. "But it doesn't matter. From where I stand, you are an ignorant little girl. However, you are a little girl who knows where Nagato's Rinnegan is. All I need to do is capture you, don't underestimate the power of the Uchiha eyes."

She formed her paper wings and took to the sky. Strategically, she positioned paper all around his ethereal form waiting to attack. He began to use his eye power that enabled him to suck solid objects into his own dimension. Little did he know that the papers were changing. "I slipped in some paper bombs, I will take you with me into the next world."

* * *

Meanwhile Naruto was chasing a shark who had a scroll in its mouth. He was in his new, improved Sage Mode. But even with this speed boost, it was only just enough to keep up with the shark. "_If I can't catch it, I will just destroy it when it reaches its destination_." Naruto had little idea how fast and far he had traveled. In a way it was as if instinct alone had taken over.

* * *

Madara was a mess, his right arm was blown off and his mask was partially destroyed. "I guess I underestimated you. But come to think of it, you are a former Akatsuki member after all. It seemed you were planning to explode the moment I swallowed you. You intended to take me with you and you failed." She was breathing heavy, her assault cost her a great deal of Chakra. "I was too quick for you and swallowed most of the explosion, though you did manage to injure me... but thanks to me, you're still alive. You should be grateful, but I have to ask: is this the extent of your secret plan?"

Konan didn't answer his question, instead she asked one of her own: "Why do you think we betrayed you?"

He casually shrugged it off. "Who knows, that's your problem."

A gigantic paper trench parted the sea around them. "It's because you are the darkness. Flowers can only wither in a world without light." She attached a number of paper bombs to his body, denying him the ability to teleport.

Due to the mask it was difficult to read his expressions, but that lone eye was visible and his anger was clear. "You almost had me there. I'm surrounded by explosive tags that could go off at any moment, I can't afford to be careless."

She had the same expression of anger on her face, at last it was just about over. "And you can only slip through physical objects for five minutes." She had figured out his powers and knew exactly how to exploit them. "I prepared six hundred billion exploding tags to kill you. They can explode continuously for ten minutes." She then began her chain reaction for ten minutes and at the end, fell to her knees panting. "Madara, he has to be..."

He appeared right behind her unharmed and with his arm back, it was over. "Dead?"

She was too exhausted to fight anymore, she stood up with a blade to her back. "How? You had to have died. I ran simulations over and over, this should have been enough to kill you."

He spoke calmly as his victory was assured. "Izanagi. It is a forbidden Uchiha Jutsu. You lose the Light, but you gain the ability to connect illusion and reality. It's only available to those with the power of both Senju and Uchiha." He drove his blade into her back causing her to cough up blood. "The world thinks Madara Uchiha lost to Hashirama Senju, but what is the reality? He who sees the future is the victor, the true battle has yet to come. Our previous battle was just so I could gain his power. I am Madara Uchiha with the power of Hashirama Senju. I am the only one who can be the second Sage of the Six Paths. Looks like you will be reunited with Nagato soon. There the two of you can share your regret for falling for Naruto's nonsense."

Madara's overconfidence got the better of him as a Rasenshuriken spiraled into his back. A clone of Naruto pulled Konan away from the blast at high speed. Izanagi could not be activated possibly due to the speed at which his body was breaking down and the pain it caused. His midsection was completely disintegrated and his legs were being swallowed up as well. Before he was completely consumed, he smirked and said: "The peace you seek is nothing but a fools dream, there will always be somebody like me."

Before turning his attention to Konan, Naruto smiled at what was left of Madara and stated: "And there will always be somebody like me to stop them."

* * *

**Note (again): I have yet to decide if this will be a one shot type of deal or a long term story. Konan is the best character in the entire series btw.  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Echoes

**Note: I'm continuing this by popular demand, it wouldn't seem fair to not do it especially since so many of you took the time to write me about it. Hopefully it won't disappoint.  
**

Chapter 2: Echoes

Naruto had placed Konan on the ground to check her wound. Fortunately no vital organs were hit, but it would be life threatening if he waited too long. The rain was not letting up, in fact it had become a complete downpour. A shadowy figure approached from the north, it was humanoid and stood at about five and a half feet tall. The visibility was too poor to distinguish any figures. It knelt down and picked up the remnants of Madara's mask. A female voice could barely be heard saying: "What a waste."

Naruto watched the strange woman with great interest. "Who are you?" he called out.

She stood up and merely stared at him, saying nothing.

"I said, who are you?" he said with authority, perhaps she did not hear him?

The mask fell to the ground and shattered completely, she pointed at Naruto and bended her finger back. Naruto was violently pulled through the storm to her feet. "Did you defeat this man?" she asked with a smile. She was beautiful, she had long white hair with vibrant blue eyes. She was wearing armor similar to what the Samurai wore.

Naruto gulped, she was scary and her power was strangely familiar. "I did." Without making any gestures, he stood up against his will.

"I want to thank you for saving me, he sought to abuse my power as so many have tried..."

She was cut off my Naruto speaking: "Alright, just who are you exactly?"

For a moment he thought he saw the Sharingan in her eyes. "My name is unimportant, what matters is if you will help me."

"With what exactly? My friend here needs help and I don't have much time." He gestured at Konan who was lying unconscious.

Her attitude had completely changed, all of a sudden she was glaring at him. "You have something that belongs to me. I will seek it soon." She lifted him above her as he noticed her shadow was a number of tails waving. Her eyes displayed a Rinnegan pattern as she tossed him back. "My power is not to be mistreated, this world will burn by my own hands." Her form disintegrated and dispersed with the wind.

Naruto landed on his back and was breathing heavy. "That was Shinra Tensei."

* * *

Naruto took Konan to Amegakure to find a hospital. He marveled at the massive spires and signs of industrialization, it was radically different than his home. Walking through the streets he received strange looks from the villagers, they were afraid and kept out of his way. A number of ninja surrounded him from all sides. One moved forwarded and identified himself as their leader. "Release God's Angel and you may survive."

The Jinchuriki carefully observed his surroundings, there were six around him and ten more on the rooftops. "She is my friend and she needs medical attention. We don't have much time."

After Naruto left her in capable hands, he departed to go find his friends that he left behind. Along the way, he entered his inner world to interrogate the Kyuubi. The area was no longer a sewer, the water was gone but the architecture remained the same. The fox was completely restrained, it had a small range of motion available but not enough to escape. "I know you were watching, tell me what you know of this."

The fox merely growled at Naruto, he had not forgiven him for this new seal. "My power seeks to go home." It said nothing else and would answer no more questions.

* * *

Konan awoke the following day in a hospital bed, she remembered losing her battle and nothing more. "_How did I get here_?" she thought to herself. She stood up and began checking herself out, she had bandages wrapped over her chest but there was no wound underneath. "_Wasn't I stabbed_?" The door to the room opened and a man walked in.

Right away the Shinobi dropped to the floor and bowed to her. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to check on your condition."

Konan still felt exhausted from her fight and was a little stiff. "Who brought me here?"

He raised his head to address her. "Some blonde kid, he said you two were friends."

She walked up to him and gestured to stand up. "Where is he now?"

"He left the village yesterday, said he had business to take care of." He carefully eyed her body up and down. "Are you alright?"

"Fine actually, I am leaving you in charge of the village." She was not in any condition to leave, but her stubbornness got the better of her.

As she walked out the room, he yelled to her. "Wait, Madara Uchiha was defeated."

She froze in place and looked back to him. "What, by who?"

He merely shrugged. "We don't know, his remains were found on the outskirts of the village. There wasn't much left."

Her eyes were wide and in shock. "Burn the remains, I am leaving now."

He called to her one last time. "Please, where are you going?"

She thought of what Naruto had told him already. "Taking care of business."

* * *

Madara's death had not reached the corners of the world yet and for all intents and purposes, the war was still on. A number of Zetsu clones had already made their move and attacked Alliance strong points. Neji was scanning the area for hostiles and detected a target moving slowly through the forest. "Only ten in front of us, there is one coming from the right. It may be trying to flank us." The clones and the Alliance Shinobi were now face to face ready to do battle. The white haired woman entered the clearing. "Wait miss, please stay away!" Neji called out to her.

She didn't stop at his command, instead she walked right in between the group. Within the blink of an eye, the trees around them ignited and the clones were thrown into the fire. "Where are the two remaining hosts hiding?"

Neji activated his Byakugan and looked at her Chakra structure. She didn't have a system like humans do, instead her body was molded entirely from Chakra. "Your master will never have them, we will defeat you!"

"You assume too much. Your eyes are impressive, but let me show you what mine are capable of."

* * *

**Note: That should do for now :o Can anyone guess who this mystery villain is? Should be obvious to those who read the manga.**


	3. Chapter 3: The White Lady

**Note: I gave this story a mature rating for a reason. Each time Naruto visits this "Place" it will become more graphic and intense. You have been warned!  
**

Chapter 3: The White Lady

Nearly a week had passed since the incident with Madara, by now the news had spread across the globe. Reports indicate that many of the Zetsu clones were behaving erratically and that a woman dressed in all white was terrorizing the forces of both sides. Oddly enough she was not inflicting casualties on the Alliance side, but was destroying the clones without mercy. Instead survivors bring tales of a terrible Genjutsu that can not be broken out of.

* * *

Naruto was sitting on a tree limb overlooking a giant lake, the island he sought was in view. He decided to wait a little while to replenish his chakra, it would be a long waterwalk to the other side. Everything was peaceful, it was early in the morning and the sun was just coming up. A number of exotic birds were skimming the lake surface for an easy meal. After sorting himself out and eating a snack from his bag, he leaped down to the ground to begin the last part of his trek. Upon reaching the shore he eyed a number of fish, there was what looked like a bass of some sort chasing after a number of minnows. Upon gathering chakra at his feet, he stood atop the surface of the water as the fish fled in fear of his presence.

It was a long tedious process, but to his relief he could already feel the benevolent chakra of his friends nearby. When he reached the halfway point he felt another presence, a combination of fear and anger. He looked back to the distant shore and there she was. Just how he remembered her, silky white hair in white Samurai armor she stood at the waters edge and disappeared as quickly as she came. She was all around him, or at least this is what he felt. He looked down and saw her reflection instead of his own. She knelt down and grabbed his legs, pulling him under the surface.

* * *

What Naruto saw was beyond comprehension. He was in a tight hallway with torches lining the walls. There was thick green fog that obscured visibility to only a few feet. With his back to a wall, he following the corridor to see where it led. The other side was a mirror image of where he began, a dead end. Thinking for a moment, he turned around to check if he missed a passage amongst the fog. This time however, there was no fog. At the opposite end she stood, staring back at him making no movement.

As Naruto tried to call out to her, "Tell me who you are. Why are you doing this?" the floor he was standing on began to descend. It acted as an elevator of sorts, dropping down into a chamber below. A few feet above the ground level it stopped and began to behave erratically, it tilted down at an angle causing him to slide. He managed to hold on just fine as he pulled himself back up. He saw a ghostly image of himself fall down to the floor below as strange black creatures emerged from the darkness to prey on his illusion. When they attacked the doppelganger, they all exploded into a torrent of blood that filled the room just below the platform. "_Genjutsu, no doubt about it. I just need to disrupt my chakra flow_." He attempted to bite his tongue as the White Lady jumped out of the water and began to strangle him, her body was completely nude and was heavily scarred. He punched her hard on the cheek and she dispersed into a black cloud of smoke. The blood vanished and the platform continued its descent at high speeds. With a crash onto the floor, he rolled off breathing heavily.

Regaining his courage, he stood up and ran to the far side of the chamber. There was a door at the other end, it depicted a trident insignia upon it and had no visible way to be opened. Not wasting any time playing with puzzles, Naruto created a giant Rasengan to break through the wall. Stepping through the hole, he found himself on the streets of the Leaf Village. The sky was pink and the ground orange. The buildings were barely standing, the frames were all that remained. Certain areas of the ground were split open to reveal rivers of lava underneath. He swore he heard cries for help coming from underneath. Walking through the streets he heard what sounded like sobbing. And there she was, around a corner sitting in the middle of the street. He stood at a distance behind her as she continued her wailing. "Tell me of your pain, make me understand." She turned around and ran right at him repeating her assault. This time her attack was more intensive, as she choked him her other hand was punching him in the face repeatedly. She disengaged as the buildings began to float into the sky.

Naruto found himself in a black void of space. He heard her voice call out to him, "See the world through my eyes." Thousands of images rushed through his mind, they were of normal people suffering from various causes. He saw people being wounded, sexually abused, grieving over bodies of loved ones, anything that one could possibly imagine was there. Once more she jumped on him and intended to finish what she started. Before she could kill him, a hand came down and pulled him out of the nightmare.

* * *

Konan was flying on a giant paper bird, in the distance she saw abnormal weather effects. Over the great lake were water spouts and a thunderstorm. The water displayed an luminescent purple glow that reeked of foul chakra. Flying over the waters surface to investigate, she saw Naruto just under the surface being strangled by the White Lady. Wasting no time she reached down and grabbed him out of the water. At that moment the woman disappeared and the weather returned to normal.

* * *

**Note: So what do you guys think, longer but infrequent updates or bite sized chunks that are uploaded all the time? In other news, Doom 3 and F.E.A.R heavily inspired this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Reckoning

**Note: One problem that comes up with this pairing is the age gap. Konan is approximately 35 and Naruto is 16. There are really three ways to handle this. A) Use a plot hole to make the age gap smaller. B) Do something in the story to de-age or age a character. C) Don't worry about it. I haven't decided which medium I will take just yet. More than likely it won't be "A" since I will be doing that with my other story.**

Chapter 4: The Reckoning

Naruto slowly his eyes to see the blue haired girl overlooking him. "Are you alright? I think we are even now" she said to him. It may be that he didn't hear her, or that he was still recovering from what transpired. Konan was never one to show emotion, at least not for a very long time. Still a look of concern came from her amber eyes. "I don't think your girlfriend likes you very much."

Naruto finally snapped back into reality. "She's not my girlfriend, I don't like anyone like that." He looked over the side of the bird down into the water, as if expecting her to be staring back at him. The water was bubbling as dead fish floated to the surface. "I don't think that's supposed to happen, we have to get to the island."

She shrugged off the death that encircled them. "What's so special about it?"

Naruto scratched his head piecing together what he knew. "From what I understand, they wanted me to hide here while the war went on. Something about masking it is a mission to document animals. I know what's going on, and I have to tell my friends here what happened. See... I left them to chase after the shark-thing before finding you."

The bird flew over the island when they spotted a clearing. After landing, Naruto searched for his friends. The remains of Kisame were still there, but no signs of his companions. "I really hope something didn't happen to them."

Hoping to cheer him up, she walked over and kneeled down. "It looks like whoever was here left many days ago. Perhaps they went looking for you, or maybe they went to report to your leaders?"

Naruto put his hand up to his chin. "Well that could be the case, but I don't know where they are. They wanted me out of the loop so I wouldn't participate in the war."

She tugged his arm and tossed him onto the bird. "The Land of Iron, we are leaving now."

Naruto was stunned by her behavior. "That was sudden, what's the deal?"

She pointed up to the sky as they lifted off. There was a glowing object in the sky, it was tiny and had a purple light trail behind it. "Just a bad feeling." Whatever it was, it descended slowly.

* * *

Naruto had opted to nap during the flight, his experience had taken a terrible toll on him not only mentally, but physically as well. He awoke to see Konan sitting on the edge looking at the ground below. "Are you thinking of them?" She didn't say anything, not that he expected her to. "I ask, because I am too. When this war ends, their dream will become a reality. I'll do my best to make it happen."

Her head nodded down a little, but her body language had not changed. "I know you will."

"Look, I can see the wolves." Naruto pointed ahead to the natural rock formations in the distance. "We are nearly there."

She gazed in awe at the ominous shapes ahead, this was her first time seeing them. A voice interrupted her staring session. "Naruto, why are you here?" She looked to her right to see another bird flying along side them. The single rider was a pasty faced Shinobi around Naruto's age.

Naruto called out, "Sai! I'm glad to see you."

Sai gave a fake smile and held up a kunai. "I would not have expected somebody like you to join the Akatsuki."

Naruto waved his hands wildly. "You have the wrong idea trust me, she is on our side."

After putting the blade in his pouch, Sai briefed them quickly. "To the North is the main battlefield, as we speak there is a large scale battle going on. I assume you are looking for the Hokage, the main headquarters is just east of here. Follow me."

* * *

Inside the command tent, the Kage's were standing over a map formulating battle plans. The Tsuchikage was speaking of his experiences in the field. "We have determined a critical weakness in the enemy. Ever since Madara Uchiha was killed, the enemy forces have been behaving erratically. Zetsu must be having a hard time controlling them because they intermittently stop for a few seconds at a time. Once this happens, we can swoop in for an easy kill."

The Raikage pounded his fist on the table, a number of plastic Zetsu figures flew off the map. "Then we shall crush them, victory is assured. Besides, my brother is on the field now."

Tsunade, the Hokage was reading off a chart. "Based on these new figures our soldiers have a ninety three percent survival rate. This may be the least bloody war ever fought."

Gaara was standing in the corner thinking, he wasn't as excited about the new revelations. "This unknown woman who is fighting on the field worries me, her power seems substantial."

All present were alarmed as a sound of wind blowing could be heard outside. Naruto pushed the door open, followed by Konan and Sai. All but Tsunade were alarmed at Konan wearing her Akatsuki robe. The Hokage simply nodded, they knew who each other was. That didn't stop the others and their personal guard from acting defensively. Naruto spread his arms out and stood in front of her, "She's with me."

After their greetings, the Raikage aggressively shook Naruto's hand. "Thank you for protecting my brother, I never expected the island to be compromised."

Naruto was dizzy and everything around him seemed to move. "Uhh, no problem." Then he remembered, "So does that mean everyone made it here okay?"

Tsunade dragged him over to the map. She pointed her finger down to a circled area. "They are here, fighting. We didn't want to send you two out, but we are mopping up at this point and could use every pair of hands we can afford. We would have you go there now if you are able."

Naruto studied the map aggressively. "I have so much to tell you first, about my new powers. And more importantly I met this lady who has been causing me problems for days, I wanted to know if you knew anything about her."

Everyone was shocked that he encountered her just as they did. Before they could talk in length about it, a low ranking Shinobi bust through the door. "A thousand pardons for interrupting you like this, but there is a strange phenomenon occurring outside."

* * *

As the group went outside, they looked up to the sky. The object Naruto had observed was back, but this time there were a few others along with it. The purple glow was much more visible now with the orange sunset. It wasn't very bright out however, as a number of clouds had obscured the moon. Naruto put his hands on his hips, "I saw that before, I don't know what it is - but it's beautiful. I can't help but feel something is wrong though."

Hundreds of lights began to descend from the sky as a number of birds began to fly away. Konan was quick to comment on the growing situation, "Something has scared them, they are flying south away from the battlefield."

The entire area lit up as if the sun came back out. It was like an act of God, a massive rock fell from the sky. There was a trail of fire and black smoke from it. There was no scale of reference to determine the size, but it was dramatically larger than the small pieces falling with it. Before it reached the ground, everyone simultaneously heard the White Lady's voice in their heads; "All life must end." When the rock made impact, a white light obscured everyone's vision and no sound could be heard from anyone. A terrible mushroom cloud made up of fire could be seen in the distance as thousands of flaming projectiles shot out in every direction. It was only a matter of seconds before the camp was overrun with the rain of fire, anything that was touched was ignited; including the buildings.

* * *

After an unknown amount of time, Naruto woke up and began coughing. He was laying on his stomach and had a face full of black ash. He looked around to see small fires and dead trees all around him. Other people began rise up, it looked like almost everyone survived. Many were wounded though, mostly from shrapnel and moderate burns. The medical Shinobi were already healing and out searching for wounded. Naruto sat on a fallen tree and tried to grasp the reality of what just happened. He thought of the battle to the north, "_I hope everyone made it out alive_." He put his hand over his heart and shed a number of tears, he was probably just thinking wishfully.

Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and saw the White Lady sitting beside him with a look of sorrow upon her face. "I'm glad you survived."

He had his mouth open in shock, his tears turned to anger. "Because of you, a lot of people died today..."

She took a finger and wiped his tears away. "Don't be so sure of yourself, stranger things have happened." With that, she faded away into nothingness.

A few minutes later, Konan appeared and sat down beside him. She shed her torn cloak and was wearing a simple black shirt and matching pants. "Are you hurt?"

Naruto shook his head. "Just inside. What about you?"

She lifted her arm to show a few pieces of metal embedded in her side. "Nothing I can't handle."

Naruto put his elbows on his knees and buried his face into his hands. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

She titled his head inquisitively and asked: "What?"

He made eye contact as if he was looking right through her. "Did you know your parents well?"

She shook her head sideways. "They died when I was very young, I don't remember them very well. Why do you ask?"

He let out a long drawn out sigh, "Well not too long ago I met both of mine for the first time, just like you and Nagato they entrusted me to find an answer. When I gained these new powers I thought I was invincible, that nothing could stop me. After all of this, I wonder if that is at all possible now. I don't want to let anybody down."

Konan gently put her hand on his shoulder and reassured him. "They have faith in you just like Nagato did. Even after this display of power, I still do. I know you will find the answer."

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he seemed to feel other presences all around him comforting him in the same way that she was. With a strengthened resolve, he stood up and brushed himself off.

* * *

**Note: This chapter is about twice as long as the previous one. I'm not sure about the length yet so I figured I would try this and gauge any reactions anyone is willing to share. PS: Gonna bring everyone least favorite emo into the story soon.**


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